Today Shalay and Wolf arrive for the weekend-can't wait to see them-been too long! Wolf will be 3 on Nov 5 so we will celebrate early with hot dogs and chili and hopefully a bonfire, weather permitting.

Finally took down the monster cherry tomato plant which supplied those little tomatoes for me and many others all summer. Never thought one plant could produce so much. I managed to make a great spaghetti sauce from them and also saved some in my freezer.

Shalay had wanted peaches so today we drove to Woodbury (Carroll Farms) to purchase some.  Michele went with us and Wolfie was a trooper on the ride and while there. He had his own huge cup of peach ice cream(not what we expected though-soft serve, not homemade with chunks of peaches).  I was thinking about the great peach dumplings Mama used to make and posted about them.  Judy (Wolfie's nanny as an infant) googled the peach dumpling and actually found a recipe!  I want to try and make these!

http://sdoeden.areavoices.com/2009/09/09/until-next-year-my-little-bohemian-peach-dumpling/

So looking forward to Shalay and Wolfie arriving today!  Haven't seen them since March when I went to St. Louis for a few days.  This time they will be staying for a few weeks.  Shalay said last night that I would get to see Wolfie in all his "terrerablist"!  I'm ready for that too!  Wolfie has never really acted like a terrible two-year-old.  He has such a sweet, loving nature.  Shalay said that he hit her one day last week and right away told her "I'm going in time-out now".   How many children decide punishment for themselves!

Leaving today for Orlando and Disney!  Marian and her family invited me to go along with them.  Looking forward to some relaxing!  Will probably go to Disney one day and the rest of the time we can just kick back and enjoy the house they have rented, complete with pool and hot tub.

http://www.disney-dreamvilla.com/indiancreekvilla.php

This blog has become more of a personal blog but it does have some of my older papercraft projects.  If you would like to go to my other blog which I hope to use for mostly artwork---

        heartsrememberedplace.blogspot.com

Also I now have a website where you can place an order easily and have the Close To My Heart product sent directly to your home address.

       www.bhudson.ctmh.com

Last week was so heartbreaking.  My brother-in-law, Dennis Boyd passed away suddenly.  Dennis was my only brother in law, husband of sister, Marian.  They married very young, like C. L. and I and have always had such a sweet marriage-did so much together and even more after Dennis retired.  He was a quiet, gentle man until he sang or preached and always was such a blessing.  I ache for Marian's loss and seeing their two children Niki and Randy in pain while trying to take care of their mother and their young children.  Being with them I was able to see Niki try and explain death to little Jonah, age 5.  I saw little Lydia, a few months younger than my Wolfie, call out "Poppa?" as we sat around the table and she didn't see him.  Death is so hard to handle ourselves and seeing our babies suffer makes us hurt even more.  Eveything that happened that night was so similiar to my own loss of C. L, even to the un-eaten meals Marian and I had prepared for our husbands.  I am praying for God's strength to Marian and her family as they face the lonely, difficult days ahead.

This is my third week of Weight Watchers and over the past two weeks I have only lost 2 pounds, so I can already tell this is not going to be as easy thing.  Tomorrow is weigh in again-I have not gone over the points plus allowance during these three weeks, so I think I'm going to have to exercise a lot more to get this weight off,  Tonight I ate Lean Cuisine's Spring Rolls (you get 3 for 5 points).  I also made some fried rice (modified of course but very filling.  Used 1 Tblsp canola oil, onion, celery, cabbage, 1 cup of cooked rice and an egg, stir-fried with some reduced sodium soy sauce.  This was enough for 2 meals for me and very good.  I will buy those Spring Rolls again.  It comes with 6 rolls for 2 meals and they were on sale for $1.98!  Hope I can find them again at this price!  Peggy Johnson are on this "adventure together.  Suzanne Pluckett and Brenda Kraus have already done well on the program.  I think my motivation to lose this weight came from Kay Schnack, my friend who recently had the belly band surgery.  Nice to have some support when going through this.  I do like the online e-tools available now when you pay for the month.  Gotta be good!  So far I've been able to stay satisfied with the foods I'm choosing.  Even for breakfast at McDonalds this morning, I had their new Oatmeal with apples and walnuts-pretty good!  My usual would have been a sausage biscuit!  I was hungry too after fasting before lab work at Dr. Stout's office!

One of the highlights of my day lately has been "talking" to Wolfie over the phone.  I'm still not sure if he quite understands what is happening (but I don't know how the phone works either)!  Shalay has been calling me while Wolf is taking his bath because she is going to be in there with him the whole time anyhow and I can hear him babbling and singing in the background.  One of those times Shalay let hime talk and he said, all in one word, "hello meme, I uv you meme, by meme"!  Another time he made my day by saying "meme's house, happy:!  Then last night he referred to himself as "I darlin!"  I think I may call him that pretty often.  Special times!

I'm embarrassed that I have not posted here during the Christmas season.  I have so much to tell because it was a most wonderful time for me.  Shalay and Wolf came home on Dec 20 and Ben drove in, through terrible rain and wind on Dec 22.  We were all praying for his safety.  We had our extended family get-together on the 22-Marian and her family came, except we really missed Dennis, who has been in ICU with pneumonia during Christmas but doing better now.  Joey and Elaine came but we missed seeing Andy again this year.  As usual finger food on this night is always a hit.  Keith and Michele cooked some of the best chicken fingers ever!  I got a ham which was pretty much gone that night!  Usually I have some left for Christmas brunch.  Wolfie and Lydia didn't hate each other this time, thankfully and we had a great time with the sleepover and morning cookiemaking!  More later.........